“Building Bridges” is a project that promotes inclusive methodologies in our schools and therefore improves social integration and equality of opportunities at local and regional ranges. The project´s background was developed in the TCA “Languages” celebrated in Ljubljana, Slovenia in June 2016. In that meeting six partners (Secondary Education Schools from Slovenia, Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden and Spain as the coordinator school) began a journey that is based in our schools´ real needs of improvement about inclusion but also in our expertise dealing with it from particular points of view. Our objectives are: to exchange our particular experiences about inclusive education and therefore broaden our experience, increase our resources and, of course, reach a more efficient inclusion of students with a migratory background or fewer opportunities in order to improve social integration. “Building Bridges” has been designed as a three year project, from September 2017 to August 2020. In this period of time we have scheduled six main collaborative activities to be carried out by international teams. Each activity will be mentored by one of the partners due to its expertise on the field or in the methodology that has proven to be a successful tool promoting inclusion. The activities will include individual and collaborative work, elaboration of educative materials, development of workshops, and implementation of new methodologies. Six international Teaching and Learning activities will take place as a result of conducive subprojects, which are conceived as a preparatory phase of the mobility activities planned, in which our students will have the opportunity to be trained by their partners about the different topics. These activities will complement and reinforce implementation activities because host students will be able to share “in situ” their expertise with their partners and also will be able to suggest them to implement new resources and methodologies to promote social inclusion. The chronogram of these activities will be: • From October 2017 to January 2018 Spain will mentor the activity “Social inclusion and integration through music” in which we will use music to promote the use of foreign languages and integration. November 2017 Spain will host the first international learning activity in which partners will be able to learn how to play and record a lip-dub. • From February to May 2018 Germany will mentor the activity “Integration through Biology” in which we run a project based on “travelling plants”. In March 2018 Germany will host the learning activity in which partners will be able to learn how to develop a school ecological garden. • From October 2018 to January 2019 Austria will mentor the activity “Media and inclusion” in which we will publish an online newspaper using media to confront social exclusion. In November 2018, Austria will host the learning activity in which we will develop activities related with the visit of a refugee camp. • From February to May 2019 Sweden will mentor the activity “Inclusion through Dance and Art” in which we will develop inclusive methodologies related to dancing. In March 2019 Sweden will host the learning activity in which partners will be able to learn how to include dancing with innovative activities to foster integration. • From October 2019 to January 2020 Poland will mentor the activity “Integration through social commitment” in which we will interview celebrities with a social integration commitment background. November 2019 Poland will host the learning activity in which partners will be able to interview life some of the celebrities and also immigrants. • From February to May 2020 Slovenia will mentor the activity “Integration through History” in which we will study migratory movements and their influence in history and society. In March 2020 Slovenia will host the last international learning activity in which we will learn how Balkan communities are able to get integration in spite of borders. These activities will be done based on collaborative methodologies because they will be carried out by all partners at the same time. Another methodological cornerstone of this project will be cooperative work trying to give full relevance to the students while they learn from each other, a task-based approach of the activities and the fact that the tasks will be self-centered, which is key to the project because all the activities and projects are conceived in order to serve our real needs. Our most expected results will be: to improve social inclusion of students into our schools and communities and to implement new teaching methodologies to allow us keep on working with inclusion after the end of the funding. For this reason we will establish a network of students, families and teachers supported by our project website based on the relationships established along these three years that will allow us to keep on coworking from 2020 onwards.
Building Bridges was a project for the exchange of good practices in order to develop and implement inclusive methodologies. “Social Inclusion” and the development of “Innovative Practices in the Digital Age” have been its two main priorities. Our partnership was born at the TCA “Languages”, held in Ljubljana in June 2016. We were six schools interested in the implementation of inclusive methodologies and therefore improving coexistence in our communities. We initially scheduled six observation and implementation activities but the outburst of COVID19 and the resignation of our Swedish partner made only four of them possible. Each one was focused on a topic: - IES Monegros (Sariñena, Spain) coordinated “Building Bridges through music”, an activity in which we used music and lyrics in different languages and with important social content in order to promote inclusion and multiculturalism. We also shared our experience recording the lipdub of JJ Goldman song "Je te donne" in order to involve all community members in school life. - "Integration through Biology" was coordinated by Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Gesamtschule (Duisburg, Germany). We learned to implement school gardens to promote inclusion and turn them into educational and leisure spaces in which students leave their footprint in a cobblestone common path. We also discussed with refugee students about the reasons that lead people to migrate or escape from their countries. - NMS St. Agatha (Austria) coordinated “Media and Inclusion”. We learned from their experience using the media as an inclusive tool. We learned how to edit newspapers and audiovisuals and we ended up publishing the first issue of a magazine with the contents of the activity. - “Inclusion through social commitment” was coordinated by Szkoła Podstawowa nr 5 im. Dr. Aleksandra Majkowskiego (Kartuzy, Poland). In this activity they shared their experience in projects with organisations committed to equality and social justice. We also collaborated in activities with special needs students and others related to immigration. - DSŠ Lendava (Slovenia) is located in a multicultural and multilingual region between four countries. They use educational strategies for the integration of cultural, ethnic or religious differences, however we could not celebrate “Integration through History” in order to learn from their experience due to the COVID19 pandemic. - “Inclusion through Dance and Arts” was to be coordinated by our Swedish partners, Fryxellska Skolan (Västerås, Sweden), a school specialised in arts and dance education. Unfortunately the activity did not take place due to their resignation after the first year of the project. Our activities were designed using a methodological approach that we called BITS, as they were supported by Blended and Service Learning strategies, ICT promotion, Task Based Approach and Self Centered Activities. In addition, our implementation activities were programmed as collaborative projects and we have also encouraged group working and peer learning. The project allowed us to implement methodologies and resources that will remain after its completion, some of them will be the basis for future collaboration projects. Music has become a leitmotif for us, we have recorded lipdubs and music has been incorporated into some of our subjects. We are gradually implementing school gardens that are becoming educational and leisure resources but also spaces for inclusion and participation of the entire community. We are publishing school magazines promoting inclusive and social content and we will extend the experience to the use of radio, web publishing and audiovisuals. We are also making an effort to improve our collaboration in projects with NGOs and groups that fight for equality and social recognition. The project is still leaving very important impacts on our schools today. On a personal basis, it has left a profound footprint on the participants and in many cases it will mean a turning point in their personal and professional trajectory, especially in participating students with special educational needs. It has meant the reinforcement of relationships within the school communities and greater motivation and participation in school life. Many of us participated for the first time in an Erasmus+ project and the huge transformative ability that we have experienced is responsible for the progressive process of internationalisation in which all the partners are involved three years later. We belong now to a stable and growing contact network that for sure will allow us to continue collaborating in future projects. We invite everyone to visit our website and download our Decalogue, a printable and multimedia teacher´s guide that includes a summary of our activities, results, methodologies and also useful documents and templates.